Kankuro Weak and Strong
by YangEternal
Summary: Kankuro's past from his puppet jutsu training. T for a few bits of language and violence. One-shot. Please R and R.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any characters, jutsus, underpants etc. that lie therein.

With a flick of his wrist the devices came to life. Thin strings that shimmered in the night a faint blue and white color entangled the various puppets. They moved like ghosts in the blackness surrounding them. A young boy held the strings to this performance as the puppets started to move around a small platform that they all occupied.

"Hold them steady Kankuro! You wanted this training now act like it!" said a voice somewhere behind the darkness around the platform.

"Yes Rasen-Sensei!" Said the strained voice of the boy called Kankuro.

The puppets' controller shook with exuastion and excitement. 'This is it!' he thought, 'I'm finally going to get this!' His heart was pounding and his head was swimming with fevered thoughts of victory. He was to be the next great puppet master of the sand...!

Without warning all of the puppets fell lifeless to the ground. The chakra strings were gone as Kankuro fell down flat in frustration. 'Dammit! Not again! Not this time...!' A figure wearing a black robe and patterned facepaint entered the stage, apparently very displeased. Kankuro slowly looked up to see the man towering over him. Kankuro knew what was coming, he knew it too well by now...

"...I'm going to be blunt with you Kankuro, you don't have any talent. I don't know why I even bothered to take you as an apprentice. Were the great Sasori-sama here to see this he would not only deny you the right to study the art of puppet jutsu but he may just as well as killed you for this sickening display." The cloaked man turned on heel and started to walk off. "You can go home and think about if this what you really want. You are weak!" With that he dissapeared.

Kankuro fell to his knees in disbelief. He had come so close to passing the preliminary tests for genin puppet jutsu training...and failed...again. The pain welled inside of him as he started to shed drops of water from his closed eyes. A light wind carrying sand and tears from the Village of Sand past by a girl in pigtails who stood a few feat away. She sighed and leaned a large battle fan against a nearby building.

"You gunna just take that? You must really be weak after all Kankuro..." The girl said slowly.

"What if I am weak, Temari? I don't know what to do with myself anymore. This is the third time I failed! What can I do now! I keep training like crazy for the next chance I get and I blow it!" He cried in his hands.

"I don't know what your problem is Kankuro. You should really take the time and figure it out for yourself. If you have a problem, find a solution. Its as simple as that. If I let that stop me then I wouldn't have become a genin either. But I do know one thing, you can't let a few bitter words run your life. That guy is a pro, you know that better then I do. He thinks of weak as just that: weak. Show him your not weak, show him you can be strong! You can at least do that." She walked over to him and helped him to his feat, still sniffing. She looked into his eyes and sighed. She turned and started walking back toward the heart of the village. Kankuro followed.

They headed through the dark, unocuppied streets of the Sand village. Temari suddenly stopped short and turned to her brother. "You think you have problems you should think about your little brother sometime. He wouldn't spend all this time talking about this 'Poor me' crap. He has it worse then all of us." she said. Kankuro stopped and looked down, closing his eyes.

'Garaa...' Kankuro forgot his pain and turned his attention to the sand triplet's most doomed sibling. Temari was right, but Garaa was...

He couldn't let that thought advance...

He suddenly looked up at Temari and stood up straight. "Let's go home." He said in a firm voice. She looked surprised but then nodded and they went off.

-------

A glow could be seen from Kankuro's window later that night. Next to his bed on a small table some small mechanical figurines were moving about. Much smaller chakra strings emminated from the boy's hand. While these were just practice pieces created for training, Kankuro had a habit of flailing them to and fro when he was entraptured in thought. 'What should I do...If I can't pass the tests soon I won't ever find my place here...Father, Temari...and Garaa...' He stopped moving the pieces and lied back on his bed.

He thought back to his previous attempts to pass the test. Every time he got close but everything ended up falling apart. He couldn't concentrate thinking about what being one of the Sand's genin would be to him. He had mixed anticpations and he wondered what the future held. Would I like it? Would I hate it? Would I be able to be able to be a good Shinobi? But most importantly...

Was he weak?

His thoughts were interupted by a strange cloud of smoke rising above a building on the opposite side of the village that caught his attention. A silverlike fog billowed in the air as Kankuro got to his feet and surveyed the scene through his window. 'That place!...The Armory! Sensei must be over there!' Throwing his cloak and hood on he leaped out of the window and sped toward the source of the disturbance.

Trying very carefully to not be seen, Kankuro made his way through various alleyways and sand passages to the Armory. He was about to peak around a corner that lead to the front entrance when a flurry of poison-tipped needles flew past his head. Stunned, Kankuro stepped back and felt along his face to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"AUGGG!" said a voice followed by a body that fell backward into the alleyway. More needles were stuck in the throat of what seemed to be an enemy ninja completely dressed in black and wore a Cloud headband. Kankuro nearly shouted at the sight of this but immediatly silenced himself. After a few heavy-breathed seconds he carefully stepped over the very dead enemy and peered around the corner.

There stood a multitude of figures in a veil of smoke no doubt the result of a heated battle. A few bodies were scattered around the place all with various weapons and wounds to suit them. However the real focus of attention now was on a few standing figures near a large archway opposite to where Kankuro was. Standing in front of the Archway, which just beyond led to the Armory, stood Kankuro's teacher, breathing very fast. To his right stood a lopsided puppet with many arms as well as three eyes that showed no sign off movement. To his left stood another puppet with a head like a horse as well as 6 arms. Directly in front was a large, heavily-armored puppet that was spawled out on the ground like an enormouse beetle. On the master's opposing side was a tall Cloud-nin wearing a chuunin vest and a set of two giant shruiken on his back. Both surveyed the area around them waiting for each other to make a move.

"I won't be taking you lightly then..." said the Cloud shinobi as leaped high above the puppet master. Letting out a great yell of anger the desperate invader threw one of his shruiken with the intent of taking his oppenent's head clean off. However, in a motion no one could see, Rasen pulled his left arm back while his shelled puppet followed suit. The giant shuriken made a large clanging noise as it bounced hoplessly off the polished armor of the shelled puppet. Not wanting his target to reach the ground in time Rasen motioned his right arm upwards as the many armed puppet on its respective side, as if under invisible orders, propelled itself toward the enemy. A hand on one of its arms pulled back to reveal a hole under the wrist. Three kunai projected from the hole and stuck into the surprised ninja's torso. With a yelp of pain he fell to the ground clutching his wound.

Kankuro, to say the least, was astonished. 'Amazing...Rasen-Sensei can not only create an effective defense but also counter-attack with great speed! I knew he was good but I've never actually seen him fight like this!' Kankuro leaned closer to the edge to get a better look at the fight at hand.

Rasen, however, was not in as great shape as his apprentice thought. Still breathing quickly, as a result from defeating other enemies that were currently occupying spots on the floor, he tried to formulate a plan. 'A great deal of these puppets projectiles have been exausted. On top of that I'm almost out of stamina. This guy is not going to go down from a few kunai, especially ones that don't have any poison to complement them .' His opponent started to his feet. The puppet master's face contorted. 'Think! If I drop my guard at the wrong moment, I'm history. I have no knowedge of this one's jutsu ability or fighting style, aside from those big-ass stars, so I can't create an effective strategy of his weaknesses. I'm just have to go on the offensive and not let him get any moves in. A two-pronged attack should do the trick with Crow and Black Ant as long as I drop the strings on Beetle to focus my strength, or what's left of it...its a gamble but I have to take it...'

Lowering his hands the strings connected to the Beetle dissapated. Then, simultanously, the two puppets still attached began their assault by flying straight foward. The cloud nin took a step back and reached for his remaining shruiken. The Crow puppet opened its mouth to fire another set of kunai while the Black Ant manuvered around the enemy.

"Pointless..." The Cloud nin said aloud. In one fluid motion he ducked under the kunais' path, grabbed the shruiken on his back, turned on his heel 180 degrees and threw the shruiken directly in the chest of the Black Ant, ripping wood and some metal from its torso as well as pinning it to a wall right behind it.

"What!" Rasen cried in disbelief. Not wasting a moment the Cloud nin turned toward his now distressed opponent and flung one of the kunais that was stuck in his own torso directly in the puppet master's right-hand wrist. He screamed in pain as the strings on the Crow dissapeared. The now inanimate puppet fell to its knees.

"Looks like your out of ammo huh? Without anything to attack with your as good as gone." The Cloud nin boasted as he walked toward Rasen. "Time for you to die with your precious toys..."

Kankuro fell to his knees in disbelief. 'N-No...Rasen-Sensei...you can't lose...!' He hunched over as tears began to well up inside of him. 'I...I...have to do something! I...can't just...' Tears started to fall. He saw the Cloud nin walk closer to his teacher...

'Come on Kankuro...your not that weak! I know your not!'

Temari's voice echoed through his head. Her sincere words stopped his tears as he looked down at his hands. 'I am...' His thoughts of his training and pain surged through him. He gradually contorted his face with undenyable anger. Clenching his fists he slowly looked to the Cloud nin in a fury.

'No! I'm not weak! I AM STRONG!' He forced in his mind.

'Now get up!' Temari's voice commanded. He pushed off of the ground and ran to the lifeless Crow. With all the rage and mental strength he could muster Kankuro of the Sand summoned the felled puppet to life with bright blue stings of chakra. He turned his wrist a few ways to result in the Crow opening its mouth to reveal a long sharp needle protruding from it. As if conducting a symphony, Kankuro twisted and turned his arms to motion the Crow into an attack position, with its head aimed straight at the Cloud's midsection. Chakra around Kankuro could now be seen burning blue as the brightness and intensity of the strings increased.

"EAT THIS YOU WEAKLING!" Kankuro cried as the puppet's head detached from its body and beelined at his target. The Cloud nin perked his head and turned while reaching for another weapon.

It was too late though, as the needle in the Crow's mouth impaled him with a swift thunk.

Kankuro was poised with a face filled with rage. The Cloud nin saw this and proceeded to see no more in the mortal world. The puppet master's last vision was that of Kankuro standing almost mystically with blue chakra around him and the Crow, headless, standing right beside him like a shadow of Kankuro himself. 'That's...really...Kan...' he thought just before the world around him went black and he passed out.

---

Hours later Rasen awoke in a bed unknown to him. He looked around to see others just like it and Medical ninjas in a long hall. It was still dark outside as winds from the desert whispered in the windows. 'I'm...in the hospital?' His mind was sunken and fuzzy. He looked down at his wrist to see it covered in bandages. He was interupted in trying to collect himself by the sound of snoring on the other side of his bed. He turned to see Kankuro there, sprawled out on the neighboring bed, fast asleep. He was still in his T-shirt and shorts.

"Oh, Rasen-sama! How do you feel?" came a voice at the end of the bed. He turned to see a medical nin looking very concerned.

"I-I'm fine." Rasen replyed as he turned from Kankuro to the doctor. "A little shaken still but not bad. Just I'm not as young as I used to be is all. There was no damage to the Armory I hope?"

"No sir, all of the inventory is accounted for. Just what were they after anyway?"

"Probably our village's sacred scrolls. They probably thought it would give them the edge they needed against us were a war to break out. That or they were after the puppet army that Sasori left plans for. With enough analysis and experimentation they could probably replicate our entire array within a year's time."

"I see...well now I will attend to my rounds if I may." He turned to go but stopped. "That kid is something else. He came to us with you on his back, struggling all the way in. Don't know what got into him..." With that he left. 

"Kankuro..." The puppet master turned back to the dozing boy and smiled. He lied back and chuckled to himself. 'This kid...definatly has what it takes. I don't know if he's really ready but we shall soon see...'

---

"Rasen-sensei, what is this all about anyway?"

Master and student now stood on a wide cliff overlooking the village. Kankuro was standing at attention to his teacher and one of the battle puppets, Crow, as the sun grew dim on the horizon.

"I just want you to do something for me, Kankuro. Do you see that target on that far wall behind me?" Rasen asked as he motioned to his left.

Kankuro turned to see a small red circle painted on a cliff about 100 yards out, barely viewable.

"Y-Yes...why Sensei?" he responded nervously.

"Very Good. I want you to use this puppet hit that mark." He said with a grin as he motioned to the Crow at his side.

Kankuro's jaw dropped. "B-But Sensei! That's...!"

"If you can hit it, I will consider this your passing test. You have thirty seconds."

Kankuro was dumbfounded. '...Can I do this?' He thought turning to the Crow. 'I've never tried to hit a target that small!'

"20 seconds." Rasen said.

'Damn!' Kankuro closed his eyes, took a deep breath and thought deeply about his training. '...I know I can. I have to!'

"15..."

Lifting his arms, he summoned charkra to bring the puppet up. Flexing his arm, one of the puppet's arms straightened out. Twitching his fingers the puppet's hand pulled back to reveal one kunai. Kankuro eyed the spot carefully...

"10..."

'This is it. No stopping me now...' He closed his eyes.

"5...4..."

'I am STRONG!' Kankuro clenched his hand into a fist and pulled on the strings. The Kunai fired like a rocket and stuck square in the middle of circle.

Kankuro opened his eyes just as Rasen said "0". He looked at the kunai shine as light from the setting sun began to fade. Stunned, Kankuro leaned against a rock beside him. 'I did it...'

"Congratulations Kankuro. I hearby proclaim you as a genin." Rasen smiled as Kankuro slowly got to his feet. His expression turned from shocked to happy in a matter of seconds. 'I really did it!' He cried internally.

"To commemorate this occasion I would like to present you with this here." Rasen once again turned to the Crow. "This is now your tool. Learn to use it well and in time it will be your trusted ally."

Kankuro stared at the puppet in shock. "Really...my...!" The words didn't come out correctlyly. It was all happening too fast...

"And one last thing." Rasen said as he walked up to Kankuro. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small jet-black container. He unscrewed the cap and dabbed his free hand in it. "This is proof that you have earned the title of a Sand puppeteer shinobi." Using his index and middle finger, Rasen spread a purple material over Kankuro's face in a certain pattern. He took care not to mix the paint with the tears running down the new genin's cheeks. "Go on and live with the honor of the Sand." Rasen smiled.

Kankuro turned to the village. A strong wind blew past him as he looked down on the village that was his home.

He finally knew his place, and nothing could stop him now...

Author's notes:  
Well here is a one-shot I really enjoyed writing. Hope you liked it as well! Kankuro has always been an interesting character but he hasn't gotten much attention in the series so I figured I'd write this. Maybe I'll move on to other characters in the future. Well, thanks for reading this far.

-bow- 


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